BOILING-DOWN IN HAWKE'S BAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2292, 28 April 1868, Page 3

BOILING-DOWN IN HAWKE'S BAY.

(From the Hawk's Bail Herald, April 11.) At last, after many difficulties and delays—such as are not unusually in the way of any great undertaking—the Hawke's Bay Boiling-down company has been enabled to commence operations, and the boiling down process—as it is called, although this is a misnomer—may be said to be au fait accompli The work fairly began on Monday last—the first lot on hand being4oo wethers averaging 491bseach, the property of Mr Nelson. Of i hese, rather less than 300 went through the steaming process on Tuesday, yielding nearly 10 casks, each about 3£cwt, of very superior tallow, and the remainder were steamed on Wednesday. The total result has not yet reached us; but it is believed that a very fair return will be yielded in this case. Having visited the works on Wednesday, it may be expected that we should give a description, more or less in detail, of the process. This we can scarcely pretend to do; for, although it was minutely explained to us by Mr Atkins, the able and courteous manager, it cannot be quite understood without longer experience than that afforded by a visit of an hour or two. However, what we saw is at the disposal of our readers. Entering the main building, we were first introduced to a part of it which does not afford to the uninitiated the most agreeble sensations in the world—the shambles. These are in three divisions, in each of which two butchers are intended to be at work. At present there are only four on the strength of the establishment, and, of those, two are disabled from a very simple yet singular cause. The skins of the sheep are full of the prickles ( of the thistle plant, the effect of which upon the men's hands has been to swell them to an enormous Bize, and to cause almost intolerable pain. A pipe from the artesian well adjoining conveys a stream of water into this part of the building, enabling it (as is the rule) to be thoroughly cleansed with water, and purified with lime, every evening. Adjoining the shambles is the hanging room, into which the carcases, as slaughtered, are at once taken and hung up—the beams being studded with iron hooks for the purpose, and affording room for 400 whole carcases, in addition to some hundreds of legs. From this room they are transferred, one by one, to the cutting-up block, where the legs are separated from the carcase—the former being restored to the iron hooks, while the latter is handed overhead to a man stationed at the steaming vats, to be deposited therein.

The steaming vats are at present two in number, each estimated to hold the carcases of 200 ewes, but they were found practically to be filled by about 150 of Mr Nelson's large wethers. When the vats are filled, they are closed at the top—into which, however, a safety valve is fitted—and steam applied from the bottom by means of a pipe communicating. At the expiry of eight hours the process is, so far, completed; the steam withdrawn; and the vats opened. Water is then applied from the bottom, which separates the tallow from the meat, and causes the former to rise to the top, whence it is run to a vessel called the refiner. Here, by a process which lasts two hours, and the nature of which is not made publicly known, water and other impurities are separated from the product. The tallow, in a pure form, is then conveyed to another vessel called the cooler, whence, after a proper interval, it is run into the casks intended for its final reception. The tallow, we saw, the result of the steaming of Tuesday, which had undergone the processes we have described, was very hard and white, and evidently a good sample. While, as we have seen, the fat ascends to the top of the vat, and runs off through a species of gutter to the refiner, the" gravy," on the other hand, drops down into a vessel underneath, This gravy speedily assumes a gelatine form, and, as preserved soup, may be made a valuable article of export. In the absence, however, of matured arrangements for meat preserving, it goes to the" pigs," a class of consumers which no establishment of the kind could dispense with. This reminds us that the "meat" remains to be accounted for. The bulk of this is ridiculously small, so thoroughly is every grain of fat extracted from the carcases. It is raked out, and carted to the pig paddock. Such portion of it as may not be consumed by the porkers is converted into manure, for which it is excellently adapted, and sold for that purpose. While tallow-rendering is doubtless the main object for which this estab-

lishmentwas called into being, there are many adjuncts to the process without which indeed current expenses would hardly be met. There is, for instance, the curing of legs and tongues. These are salted and pickled, and thence conveyed to the smoking room, where they undergo for several hours the process of being smoked over smouldering sawdust in an air-tight apartment. This will be varied as regards legs, by spicing. The curing of bacon on an extensive scale will also engage the attention of the manager at the proper season, the refuse meat yielded by the steaming vats being sufficient to feed a whole colony of the porcine tribe. The preparation of sheepskins for export is another branch of industry for which provision baa been made—a table for that purpose being one of the furnishings of the establishment. The skins, however, are the property of the stockowner, and their destination, or the use to be made of them, will be matter of agreement or special instruction. Although meat-preserving has not yet entered into the arrangements of the company—whose outlay must have been already heavy, without further extension of operations just at present —this important branch has not wholly been lost sight of, a pot for experiments being attached to the brick work of the boiler, communicating with the chimney flues. These experiments will doubtless be made on the earliest possible opportunity Mr Atkins, although a thoroughly practical man, being in this respect somewhat of an enthusiast. Another industry—that of the manufacture of soap and candles —will at once suggest itself as one intimately connected with the boilingdown process, and will commend itself to every mind as imperatively called for m the present state of "colonial finance. For these articles, there is no longer occasion for a shilling to leave the colony. Indeed our own province, were the capital available, might fairly enter the market to supply all New Zealand. It is not yet known whether this manufacture will be undertaken by the company, or will devolve upon some other firm, but we fully trust to see it in operation at no very distant date.

But this is a digression; and we willnoyv ask our readers to step with us in imagination into the coopering department, which is an essential branch of the business. At present, casks are scarce and dear—costing, we believe, about 4s 6d a cwt—and this is one drawback which has to be overThe cooper attached to the establishment is engaged in making casks after the Eussian model, that is, without any bilge. He has made some of totara, and is now preparing for the mauufacture of a large number out of the white pine of the Big Bush. Mr Weber, we understand, considers raatai to be preferable to either, and intends ordering a small quantity for the employment of prison labour. A few experiments will speedily determine the question—which of our local woods is beat adapted for the purpose. We need not, we think, say anything of the engine room. The engine, we may however state, is mainly used for pumping water into the boiler and vats, and is worked at an expenditure of fuel amounting to lis per diem. In addition to the main building, there is the smoking room already alluded to ; the men's barracks, affording sleeping and eating accommodation for twenty hands; the manager's residence, a neat detached cottage; and other out-buildings—all, we may add, built of timber of local production, and forming of themselves the nucleus of no inconsiderable village. Eight hundred wethers, the property of Mr Williams, were paddocked when we visited the works, and have probably by this time been operated upon. Several other flocks are on the books, ready to be delivered as required; and, if not restrained by a scarcity of casks, we see no limit, for some months to come, to the production of this new staple commodity, one which we hope soon to see figure in the list of exports from the port of Napier. Since the above was written, we find that the total product of the 400 wethers was 14 casks. Only one of these has yet been weighed, the others being scarcely firm enough to be handled. Its net weight was 4 cwt 1 qr 16 lbs, and the others are, as nearly as possible, the same size, so that the total result may be set down at fully 3 tons. This, at 4d per lb, gives £ll2, or fully 5s Gd per head. The skins will doubtless cover expenses; they may do more indeed, but on this point we are without data. We shall doubtless be able, next week, to supply our readers with more accurate information.

Of the second lot of sheep to be boiled down, one vat-ful was Bteamed on Thursday, and two yesterday. The lot will, wb believe, be completed today. The illness of two of the butchers has somewhat retarded the work.